Microsoft has locked minors out of its mobile app store in South Korea since last month.
Young users are blocked from the mobile app store as an unintended side-effect of the country’s so-called “Cinderella law,” which cuts off access to online games for users under age 16 from midnight to 6 a.m. To battle teenage addiction to video games, the government enacted the law in November of last year. But due to resistance, it relaxed the regulation since this July so that children under 18 now have the option of setting the time limit for themselves with the agreement of their parent or legal guardian.
Because Microsoft uses a single login for all services, including Xbox Live and its Windows app store, the law means the company must block users under 18 during those hours. But because of technical difficulties in cutting off access for certain periods of time, Microsoft decided to close down the adolescent users’ accounts altogether.
“We operate in 190 countries and Korea is the only country with such regulation, so the age verification system had to be installed,” said Jinho Song, a director for the Microsoft’s interactive entertainment business in Seoul.
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Source: PCWorld
